Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s prominent position in Australian life brought into much clearer focus a corrosive culture of commentary on difference. Gillard may have departed, but we really do need to talk about Julia.

While other militaries around the world have taken notice of climate change and are now acting, defence planners and policy elite in Australia are pre-occupied by global power shifts. In confining climate change as a third order issue, they are overlooking major risks.

The Australian government will decide on a new submarine programme before mid-2012, its largest ever defence procurement. The debate is part of the discourse about China’s rise. For the first time, Australia’s major trading partner is not a member of the Western alliance.

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